Business Management with Foundation Year

Course Overview

The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate degree.

Where the Foundation Year is taught at our Aylesbury Campus all subsequent years will be taught at our High Wycombe Campus.

Employers want graduates who are not just academically qualified, but are also work-ready with professional skills in management and leadership. This course equips you with the skills to become a confident and successful manager.

Become business-ready

For the new generation of managers, change is the only consistency. This programme equips you with not only the knowledge and understanding of contemporary best practice in strategic international management, but will help develop your personal skills to prepare you for your first roles in management, or for running your own business.

On this programme you will develop a good understanding of the nature of business management in a world of volatility, uncertainty, change and ambiguity.

A key feature of the programme is to blend both academic study and skills development in order to enhance the employability of our graduates.

You will develop key skills, such as empathy, problem solving and creativity, which will ensure you are well placed to enter the employment market. These skills are increasingly important in a world with technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are now fulfilling key business activities.

You will also learn about how technology is impacting business, so that you can understand how technology can underpin innovation and improvements to business and organisations.

Chartered Management Institute (CMI) refer frequently to ‘accidental managers’ within business; those people who have been promoted due to competence in one role but who are not trained or equipped to be managers. By focusing on this element within our degree programmes, we will ensure that you have already started to develop management and leadership skills in readiness for the workplace.

Academics who teach on the programme have a wide range of experience and ongoing links with industry. With smaller, more intimate class sizes, we give our students one-to-one teaching and support.

You will have the opportunity to collaborate on projects and live briefs with students from other business management degree programmes, gaining the practical and transferable skills you need for your career.

Practical learning The course focuses on the ability to think critically and will enable you to analyse and evaluate solutions to complex, real-life problems.

We focus on equipping you with the knowledge of contemporary management theories but, of equal importance, giving you the opportunity to apply and integrate that knowledge in live projects.

Guest lecturers will be used throughout the programme to also demonstrate the relevance of the teaching in a business context.

Our students are often asked to develop solutions for a wide-range of businesses. This allows you to gain real-world, hands-on experience while businesses benefit from having dedicated consultants to carry out research and offer advice tailored to their needs. We’ve had students consulting major companies as well as helping start-ups to get their businesses on the move.

This programme is ideal for students interested in developing business knowledge and management skills in any industry.

More placements, more choices

Bucks is a Placements Plus university. So, whatever degree you do, you can be sure there’ll be plenty of industry-relevant opportunities on offer, to help you get into your chosen field.

We’ll also prepare you for work beforehand, with special skills for work training, further boosting your CV, and building skills employers will value. In recognition of the value we place on these skills we have incorporated this experience into your study time.

Placements Plus is all about helping you get some valuable experience under your belt while you’re a student. To increase your choices later, and help you get the graduate-level job you want.

Course Details

UCAS CODE: NN20

The programme provides a strategic and global view with recurring themes throughout of problem solving, creative thinking and developing empathy.

There is a specific focus on developing those skills which will be needed in a changing business environment. In a world where we rely increasingly on Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is vital that we equip our students with skills not only in empathy, creativity and problem solving but also personal resilience and self-management. This degree programme provides the opportunity for you to develop these skills and practice them.

Industry links

Our strong links with industry and knowledge of their requirements for graduates helped to shape this programme. We will also introduce key business speakers and live briefs as assessments throughout the course.

Course content

In year 1, you will learn about the fundamentals that provide a sound basis for your study of business management. Core modules include finance, marketing, contemporary business environments, HR, leadership and management skills.

In year 2, you will gain a more strategic understanding of business issues, and in particular work with real clients to support you in implementing changes to their business.

In the final year, you will be expected to integrate, apply and evaluate the knowledge you have gained through independent study on your dissertation or consultancy project. There is an ongoing emphasis on leadership skills, particularly within a changing business environment. The dissertation or a consultancy project will be a key focus this year and will allow you to specialise on your area of interest. This will prove invaluable when you graduate, allowing you to showcase your particular area of expertise at job interviews.

What are the course entry requirements?

If you do not meet the minimum requirements for the three-year programme, or do not feel fully prepared for a Level 4 course, this four-year programme including a Foundation Year could be for you.

You will usually have achieved a minimum of 90 credits from a Level 3 qualification such as A Levels or BTECs.

International students should hold an IELTS of 5.5 (minimum of 5.5 in all areas).

Applicants will also be invited to attend an interview.

For further details of our international English entry requirements, please visit our international pages.

Course Modules

Module Map

This module map provides a list of the modules that make up your course.

Each module is worth a specified number of credits (typically either 15 or 30 credits for undergraduate courses). Compulsory (or ‘core’) modules cover key subject knowledge, while ‘option’ modules enable you to develop your own interests. For a full-time course you must take modules worth a total of 120 credits at each level of the course. The number of option modules you can take depends on the number of compulsory modules at each level. You can find more information about how your course is structured via the Academic Advice pages.

Our teaching is informed by research and employer requirements, and modules change periodically to reflect developments in the subject area. In addition, where we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an option module, this may not be offered. If an option module does not run, we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.

The modules available on this course are as follows:

Foundation Year Modules

Preparing for Success Knowledge and Creativity

Employability and Enterprise

Project

Introduction to Business Studies

Year 1 Modules

Graduate Challenge

People & Organisations

Marketing

Business Environment

Career Viewpoint

Financial Decision Making

Year 2 Modules

Economic Analysis

International HRM (optional)

B2B and Service Marketing (optional)

Business Analytics (optional)

Contemporary Issues in Accounting and Finance (optional)

The Media Business (optional)

Operations and Project Management

Small Business (optional)

Enterprise Projects

Selling and Sales Management

Cross Cultural Management (optional)

Future of Work (optional)

Year 3 Modules

Enterprise and New Business

Strategic Human Resource Management (optional)

International Marketing Management (optional)

Strategic Decision Making

Managing Innovation in Business

UK Taxation (optional)

Dissertation (optional)

Consultancy Project (optional)

Business Information Systems

Financial Reporting and Management (optional)

Negotiated Work-based Learning (optional)

Fees

How much does it cost

Full Time Home and EU, September 2019: £9,250 per year

Full Time International, September 2019: £12,000 per year

Full Time Home and EU, February 2020: £9,250 per year

Full Time International, February 2020: £12,000 per year

Most courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees.

Related Video

Teaching team

Employability

What are my career prospects

On successful completion of the programme, you will be well prepared to progress to a range of opportunities and careers in general management or to develop your own business. You will have gained a wide range of knowledge and skills, so that you can pursue a career in any profession or business role, such as operations and service management, customer management, project management, retail management.

As this programme provides a grounding in all areas of business management, it also offers the opportunity to focus on a particular area of interest for postgraduate study, either on a full-time basis or part-time whilst working. You may choose to study for the PG Certificate in Business Leadership, the MA in Leadership and Management or the IMBA offered by the University.

The Big Deal

At Bucks, we believe in putting our students first. That’s why our Students’ Union have developed our exclusive ‘Big Deal’ package. We’re the only university in the UK to offer free access to such a diverse and exciting range of activities – all to enrich the university experience.

We offer FREE events and entertainment, additional skills workshops, sports, recreational activities, societies and paid student rep schemes. All at one of the top 10 Students’ Unions in the UK. It’s a big deal!